The European Union has added Monaco to its blacklist of countries that the bloc considers to pose a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. Russia has again been left out of the updated list.
This is reported by Politico.
The microstate south of France has been placed on the same list as Syria, Myanmar and Burkina Faso. Venezuela, Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Namibia and Nepal have also been added to the list. However, the European Commission has excluded the United Arab Emirates and Gibraltar. The exclusion of the latter state has angered Spanish centrists.
The media calls the issue “extremely politically sensitive”. In 2024, the European Parliament, which, like the Council, has the right to object to the list, rejected the first attempt to remove the UAE. Resistance to the country’s exclusion subsided somewhat after the United Arab Emirates committed in writing to strengthen judicial cooperation with Brussels and Europol.
The day before, MEPs pressured the EC to add Russia to the blacklist. Efforts intensified after the FATF organization failed to add Moscow to the list last year, despite evidence, due to resistance from the BRICS countries.
The European Commission usually coordinates its actions with the FATF, which was created by the G7 in 1989. That is why Monaco was added to the list of countries whose anti-money laundering efforts have shortcomings, but which have pledged to eliminate them.
- According to the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, millions of euros of illicit funds linked to fraud by Russian oligarchs were located in Monaco. Despite materials released by lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, there was no proper investigation.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.